It was the Senate's second annual bipartisan Secret Santa Monday evening and for the second year in a row, the Pennsylvania Democrat brought gourmet Godiva chocolate, which his office notes has its second largest plant in Reading. (We in the Lehigh Valley, home to Just Born, maker of Peanut Chews and Mike and Ikes, are trying not to take it personally.)

While New Mexico Democrat Jeff Bingaman is delighting (we assume) over the premium chocolates he opened from Casey, Casey is now the proud owner of three jars of peanuts from North Carolina Democrat Kay Hagan.

Wait, North Carolina? Shouldn't the Georgian lawmakers be gifting peanuts?

Not so, says Chris Moyer, Hagan's press secretary. "Clearly North Carolina has the best peanuts in the country," he said.

Casey's peanuts hail from Bertie County Peanuts, which according to its website has been in the peanut business since 1919. Their more than 90 years of nut knowledge has helped them create "some of the best peanut snacks you'll ever find," they boast.

As it turns out, Casey intended to switch it up this year and bring Peggy's Wing Sauce from Scranton to the gift exchange, but it didn't arrive in time. Casey spokeswoman April Mellody says Bingaman will be receiving the belated hot sauce as well.

“Senator Casey sees this as a nice opportunity to bring Republicans and Democrats together in the spirit of bipartisanship and collegiality," Mellody said. "He, of course, is grateful for the peanuts from Senator Hagan but also for the opportunity to foster better relations with his colleagues in the Senate.”

And for the second year in a row, for the purpose of this blog post only, we present U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey with the Grinch award for not joining 60 other senators for the bipartisan festivities.